>>1038843>hurr durr they won't spend billions of dollars installing an entire electrical grid for a train that won't able to start revenue service for another 20+ years.As a Californian, I can assure you that the way this state is doing is the wrong way and Florida's doing it right.
They're building the line using high-end existing technology rather with the intent of getting revenue service started by the end of this year. As profitability and experience with running the line grows, they can begin to gradually upgrade the system to an electric High Speed line.
Time from the project's approval to completion: four years
California's HSR on the other hand is a disaster waiting to happen. A state with already severe debt problems is basically trying to build an entirely new railway, funded largely on the backs of taxpayers. The cost-overruns and delays (I'll be middle aged by the time it's done) are getting worse by the year, and public support is waning.
Time from the project's approval to completion: 30+ years
TL;DR California done goofed
Now if the California state legislature had any brains, what they should've done was help finance UP track upgrades between San Francisco and Los Angeles, obtained high speed diesel (either purchasing brand new ones or alternatively to save money, buying New York's remaining RTL Turboliners), and restart the famed Coast Daylight service from SF to LA.
While it might not be the most fancy way of doing it, California HSR would have both income and over time experience to begin the upgrade from diesel to electric, all while maintaining public interest and support (because the project clearly was able to produce a working product).
